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I have been killing myself in a tough industry for five years (after freelancing in multiple industries for 20+ years). It's a critical industry and I'm glad to have a job in it because I'm sure it has a future even when the world economy really goes bad, which I expect to happen.

Unfortunately, my company is engineering-driven and I have been kicked from pillar to post with various bosses coming and going and some astonishingly bad decisions imposed on my work that I have accommodated as gracefully as I can. But I HAVE to get out. If I don't do it voluntarily, I will do it involuntarily by screwing up so badly I'll get slung out on my [Encyclopedia Britannica].

I would like to stay in this industry because of its vitality, but I'm completely worn out. For the past 25 years, I've done user documentation exclusively and I'd love to get out of it. I've been looking at various consulting firms that publish reports on my industry, and one of them is currently looking for editors and writers.

Of course, I'm looking up the company in Linked-In and trying to find a connection for an information interview. So far I've come up with a pink-cheeked 24-year-old; I'd feel pretty strange connecting to him, since I'm in my 50s, and I think it could feel a little strange even to me. That last thing I need is to feel even stranger than I already do. I get a major dose of strangeness every day at work; don't need more. I'll keep looking for ways in, and also looking for similar companies. I know how to do the networking thing.

My question to the list is, has anyone gotten out of end-user writing in an industry, stayed in that industry, and become an analyst? Or do you need an MBA for that? When I look at the consulting firm's site, I see some people with high-powered technical educations behind them, but others don't appear to have that and are still analysts. Well, for example, the 24-year-old is an analyst.

I suppose anyone who has made the transition probably isn't still hanging out on techwr-l, but I feel sure there's some excellent knowledge to be tapped here. I am really losing it at this job, or at least I feel like I am, and I've got to get out before they help me out.

Looking forward to your thoughts, Doughty

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